1. Field of the Invention
The subject multi-terrain amphibious vehicle is generally directed to vehicles capable of traveling across surfaces of various type. More specifically, the multi-terrain amphibious vehicle is one that may efficiently propel itself across water surfaces and effectively traverse both even and uneven terrain without substantial loss of traction. The subject multi-terrain amphibious vehicle is, moreover, one which is capable of crossing from one surface type onto another without undue interruption during the transition.
In many applications of surface vehicles, both military and non-military, the vehicle is likely to encounter widely varied types of surfaces in transporting its payload. It may not only encounter both water and land surfaces, it may encounter land surfaces of greatly varied terrain and surface characteristics. In most cases, time and other resource constraints do not permit avoidance measures by which the vehicle may circumvent or otherwise avoid operation on surface types for which the vehicle is not particularly suited. Consequently, the unexpected characteristics of the surface to be traversed often make for insurmountable obstacles which delay, if not altogether halt, the vehicle's mission. Even where the vehicle is capable of traversing the surface types encountered, efficient traversal may not be possible because significant reconfiguration of one or more parts of the vehicle may be necessary if it is to continue its travel across a surface of significantly different attributes.
Accordingly, there is a need for a versatile vehicle which is equally adept at traveling not only through both water and land surfaces, but also land surfaces of widely varied attributes such as evenness, hardness, and solidity. There is a need for a versatile vehicle also capable of overcoming abrupt transitions in surface characteristics without the accompanying need to incur undue interruption in the vehicle's operation.
2. Prior Art
Amphibious vehicles capable of traveling across both water and land surfaces are known in the prior art, as are multi-terrain vehicles capable of traveling across land surfaces of more than one identifiable surface or terrain characteristic. For instance, hover-type vehicles are known which generate and maintain therebeneath a uniformly distributed cushion of air which enables it to glide over relatively smooth water and land surfaces. Where surface characteristics are such that the air cushion formed beneath the vehicle is sufficiently disrupted, however, suspension of the vehicle over the underlying surface would be disturbed, causing obstruction of the vehicle's travel.
Other types of amphibious vehicles are known, particularly those employed for military applications. One type of such vehicles is the class of payload transport vehicles functionally configured with hulled bottoms, much like typical waterborne surface vessels. Those vehicles are constructed with wheels mounted to extend from their hulled bottoms which enable them to roll along land surfaces. As with hover-type crafts, these vehicles are extremely limited in their ability to traverse any land surface beyond the flattest and smoothest of surfaces encountered. Their travel over muddy, rocky, snow-covered, or other types of surfaces potentially encountered in typical combat situations is virtually impossible.
High traction vehicles specifically designed for operation on such difficult-to-traverse surfaces are also known in the prior art. Those vehicles are of the tracklaying type employing a pair of multi-linked tracks which are advanced through an endless loop by a plurality of drive wheels. The tracks grip the underlying surface such that its linear advancement through the endless loop about the drive wheels causes the vehicle's advancement over the land surface. While tracks are effective in providing traction over rough, irregular surfaces not readily passable to simple wheeled vehicles, the extraneous friction inherently resulting from their operation makes their utilization on smooth, flat surfaces extremely inefficient. Moreover, as the durability and strength required of tracks demand in most cases that they be fabricated from steel, iron, or other hard and dense materials, tracks have been found to be quite destructive to paved road surfaces. As for water-borne applications or any other applications requiring some measure of buoyancy in the vehicle, tracklaying vehicles have, for self-evident reasons failed to find significant utility.
There is, therefore, no vehicle known in the prior art capable of efficiently propelling itself across water surfaces as well as land surfaces of various terrain and surface characteristics. There is also no vehicle known in the prior art capable of overcoming significant transitions in surface attributes without prior preparation that demands substantial mechanical reconfiguration and necessitates interruption of the vehicle's travel.